The National Football League will kick off its new season amid lackluster marks in consumer perception, according to a new survey from YouGov BrandIndex.

The NFL's "buzz score," a proxy of a brand's appeal, comes in at a 7, compared to a score of 17 a year ago, for a drop of 59%. To find that figure, YouGov asked online respondents if they have "heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, [and] was it positive or negative?"

The company subtracts the bad responses from the good ones, so a score below zero would mean a brand's perception is more negative than positive.

The NFL is off its lows, to be sure. The league hit a -35 buzz score last October as it faced consumer and advertiser backlash to its handling of off-the-field domestic-violence and child-abuse cases.

More recently, "Deflategate" has chipped away at the league's brand. In mid-February, amid a scandal regarding a New England Patriots ploy to deflate footballs during last year’s American Football Conference championship game, the league's buzz score was -13.

When the league slapped Patriots quarterback Tom Brady with a four-game suspension in June, the buzz score fell to -20. The NFL's perception has since rebounded, perhaps ironically, as a judge tossed out Mr. Brady's suspension.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has taken center stage during the various player controversies, facing criticism for how the league doles out punishment.

The NFL did not respond to requests for comment.

The NFL's current buzz score of 7 puts it behind Major League Baseball, which comes in at 15, up from 14 this time last year, according to the survey. The NBA, currently in the off-season, has a score of 2.

YouGov BrandIndex CEO Ted Marzilli said that baseball's high marks could have to do with the fact that there are some exciting pennant races this year.

Even though the NFL's score may have taken a hit, Mr. Marzilli said that "people are not going to stop tuning in."

Consumer perception of the league may prove a headache in terms of social media chatter, but the NFL's revenue is more or less protected: lucrative media rights deals aren't going anywhere. And while advertisers might admonish the league at times, big brands are still hungry to plunk down for live sports programming, where viewers watch live and are unable to skip the commercials.

Plus, branding experts say fans connect more with teams and players, as opposed to the league itself.

"People are not walking around the streets with NFL logos on them," said Allen Adamson, chairman of Landor North America, a WPP-owned branding firm.

YouGov BrandIndex says it interviews 4,300 individuals every weekday from an online panel of more than 2 million people. To determine the league's perception, about 32,000 have been interviewed since Jan. 1, 2013, the company said.